Inside Delray Tower in Detroit!

I was born and raised in Delray went past that tower many times,my friend worked there for a while

Thanks for posting. Here's an idea: Make the tower into a bar, so that train watchers can kick back with a brew as well!

Thank you for preserving this history digitally for everyone.

I was a career railroader in signal and train service and worked at mission tower in controlled by Santa fe in Los Angeles for a while when i was in signal,about 40 years ago. It controlled Santa fe, southern pacific, amtrak, union Pacific and later on in the 1990s, metrolink. Amazing place. The operators were just amazing, just like air traffic controllers

I occasionally was able to visit Delray when I was a kid…

I went on the Cardinal about a week ago and saw quite a few railroad towers. Some looked to be in excellent condition, others looked like they would collapse if I huffed and puffed and tried to blow them down. At least one had fire damage.

I was born and raised in Delray. As a little kid, whenever my parents and I were in the family car driving south on Dearborn Ave, I knew we were almost home when I saw the Delray Train Tower. In my young mind at the time, looking at the Delray Tower going home, gave me a sense of peace & tranquility. I remember telling my parents from the back seat of our car, as we drove over the train tracks passing the tower - " we're back home". And for a time also when we would drive out of the Delray neighborhood, passing the tower heading for Fort Street, I would look at the Delray Train Tower and say: "We'll be back home soon". I was just fascinated of the tower as a kid. From our kitchen window, we could see the DelrayTrain Tower. And what a piece of rail history that train junction was. Through the years of my growing up in the Delray neighborhood, I got to see many steam trains go through the double diamonds of track. It was also a treat to see the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus Train roll through, and pass the tower when the circus came to Detroit, and left the city towards the next city circus destination. There was a stretch of elevated land alongside the east & westbound set of tracks, known in the neighborhood as "the hills". Kids and teens would ride our bikes from Dearborn Ave. to the Rouge River, and watch the train bridge lift up to allow the lake frighters cruise by heading to and from the Ford Motor Company Rouge Plant. Many times the passing trains on that set of tracks had to stop and block traffic on Dearborn Ave. because the train bridge was up, allowing the boat and ship traffic to pass through the Rouge River. When a few passenger trains would go by toward Toledo Ohio, and us kids were on " the hills", being elevated higher than the train cars - we would turn our backs to the passenger trains, pull down our pants and bend over mooning the people looking out the windows from their seats. Sometimes we would just stand there giving them the national sign of discontent- the middle finger. I don't know how many times I would see a train traveling east or westbound while playing and riding my bike on "the hills" and place coins on the track to watch them get flattened by the passing trains.The whole time being on "the hills", we were in plain sight of the Delray Tower nearby. Never knew why the tower operator didn't call the railroad dicks, (Railroad Police) on us. We were I think on railroad property. Anyway, thanks for filming another piece of railroad history going into the dump. One question does remain, can't the tower be removed and re-built at the nearby Henry Ford Museum, or at the outdoor train museum in Green Bay Wisconsin? Everything that is of historical significance in Detroit gets torn down and sent to a landfill. Detroit barely has any historical things or building sites to see, because Detroit wants to be known and seen as a "City of Progress". Yeah Right, look at Detroit's "City of Progress" today. A city FULL of abandoned homes, business's, and former factories. There are not only thousands of city & neighborhood blocks of empty land, but still many area's of Detroit where police officers don't go into, fearing for their personal lives. Quite a few Fire Stations are closed because there is nobody living in the neighborhood's they once served. But boy oh boy - the Detroit Downtown area is ALIVE & WELL. That's where the city billionaires have their company headquarters & penthouse home suites. Thanks again for the train memories. Woo Woo, Keep them coming - rolling down the track.

I know delray very well

Sad that another piece of rr history is shut down. I understand that with newer technology things like this is bound to happen......but I don’t have to feel good about it. Hopefully it will be preserved or relocated

Way too cool. Thank you for posting!

I assume you deleted the interior audio to protect the Operator from possible recriminations having let in there.

You are one lucky man to have been invited into an interlocking tower!

Awesome video 🚄🚄👍

Awesome 👍. Thanks for the upload

It’s a shame you had to remove the audio from inside the interlocking tower but I assume it was to protect the kind person who allowed you inside. No more interlocking towers left in all of Michigan now.

Great video

Well done 👍

Cool stuff

Great video. So sad to see the tower shut down. That begs the question, how many manned towers are left in the country?

Wow, I was looking at that on a map at like 1:00am, on the 20th, I was wondering if it was still in use - guess I got my answer. Cool video!